Another Contra-inspired Horror?

September 15, 1996

In "Alien," the sci-fi horror thriller of a dozen or so years ago, the crew of a commercial space freighter is diverted to an unexplored planet to check out a mysterious signal. They do not know that they are about to encounter a new species of astonishing vileness and lethality. And they learn only too late of the chilling message that their company, eager to retrieve one of these creatures for its own purposes, has implanted in the guidance computer of their space ship: "Crew expendable."

If a California newspaper is to be believed, an attitude very like that was responsible for the crack epidemic that raced like wildfire through the dark ghettos of America's cities during the 1980s, leaving a sociological scorched earth in its wake.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, traffickers from the San Francisco Bay area supplied Colombian cocaine in profuse amounts to black Los Angeles street gangs through most of the '80s and reaped millions of dollars in profits, which were funneled to the largest of the Nicaraguan guerrilla armies that collectively were known as the contras.

The most awesome part of the story, however, is that the contra-connected traffickers were shielded from police investigation and prosecution by the United States government, in the form of the Central Intelligence Agency.

In effect, the people in charge of the CIA, then headed by William Casey, and the Reagan administration decided that the black addicts and communities who became victims of the crack epidemic were expendable, if it would help the contra cause.

It is a breathtaking allegation and one that ought to be investigated by Congress, in its oversight role, and by appropriate prosecutorial authorities. It may be that no one can be held legally accountable at this late date, but the American people deserve an honest investigation, if only so history may not be distorted.

It may be hard to remember now, but until the advent of cheap rocks of crack in the early '80s, black communities had little familiarity with cocaine. It was simply too expensive. Not at all hard to remember was the Reagan administration's obsession with the contras. Ronald Reagan was willing to countenance dealing with the hated Iranians to help the contras. Is it unthinkable that he and Casey would have countenanced drug trafficking to do the same?

It is not a thought that we relish entertaining. But the San Jose newspaper's well-documented three-part series is too compelling to dismiss out of hand.

Atty. Gen. Janet Reno ought to look into this matter immediately. And members of Congress concerned with drug abuse ought not rest until complete hearings on these allegations are authorized and held.